How do emotions influence healthy food choice? Investigating an extended framework of Social Cognitive Theory

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate how and through which social-cognitive constructs, emotions influence healthy food shopping behaviors. Direct effects of those constructs, as well as indirect
effects of consumer emotions are considered.

Design/methodology/approach – An altered version of the Social Cognitive Theory, including intention, socio-structural factors, outcome expectancies and self-efficacy with the addition of consumer emotions wasanalyzed using structural equation modeling. Data of 1,181 volunteers were collected in Germany in 2021through an online survey.

Findings – Intention was the most important positive predictor of food choice, while socio-structural factorshad the biggest impact on intentions. Those were mostly influenced by self-efficacy, which was strongly
predicted by consumer emotions. Outcome expectancies did not influence the current model in any way. Consumer emotions did not directly influence intention, nor actual choice, however showed to be influencingthose variables through indirect effects.

Practical implications – Marketers could benefit from these results by incorporating the current findings into existing marketing strategies through targeting a combination of social cognitive constructs, as well asconsumer emotions to facilitate healthier food shopping behavior.

Originality/value – Affect has received increasing attention in regards to its impact on healthy eatingbehaviors in recent years. Less attention has been paid to the mechanisms through which emotions influence healthy nutrition behavior, specifically how consumer emotions influence healthy food shopping behavior.

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